Burns-bass

The first thing to do is not to plug it in! These old valve amps can store up all sorts of trouble (and you need a speaker to take the load too!). It'll need to be looked over by a specialist but if it is an early JTM45 it could be worth a lot, depending on roginality and whether it works of course. The JTM45 is one of the few amps that defined rock music.

Try the harmonic minor scale. The chord itself is created as a result of that scale. It's basically a minor chord with a raised (augmented) 7th. If you're playing a walking line, the 7th tone itself isn't that important here and it's not a hugely strong note anyway, so you don't need to labour the point. If you need something you could just use a minor scale approach, or do something more interesting descending chromatically from the root.

Every player needs a pre-CBS Precision!

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1487944924' post='3244419'] If you really want to spend a lot of money have a look at Jens Ritter's Royal Collection. I'm pretty sure the [url=https://ritter-instruments.com/item_info.php?i=295]Flora Aurum[/url] was originally for sale at $100,000. [/quote] That is so tacky.

It took me about 5 years to find a vintage Fender pre CBS bass I wanted. I reckon in that time I had about 10 70s Precision and Jazzes trading up over time. As people will tell you on here that some vintage Fender basses are great, but some are absolute dogs!

I find there's a difference between wanting something and needing it - I just need to figure out how to identify it. I have a room full of instruments, but play 3 old ones. For a decade I owned and gigged just one bass, a 66 Fender Jazz which did everything I needed. I could quite happily go back to that one instrument, but I could never sell it.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1487841319' post='3243357'] I think where a lot of custom builds fall down is that the person commissioning the bass gets involved in all the wrong decisions, such as woods, pickups, electronics and hardware; when they should simply go to their luthier of choice and say how they want the bass to look, feel and sound and let them get on with picking the components that are going give the correct end result. [/quote] I agree with this. I nearly went down this route and discovered what I really wanted was a warm and friendly passive instrument (i.e. what I already had). Fair play to the builder that he was clear that I didn't actually need to spend huge amounts with him to get that. There are a couple of other issues too. Collectability/investment value is more in a vintage Fender than it would be in a purpose built bass. It's not a problem if you're planning to keep it forever, but if (like me) you look at some of your instruments as a little savings pot then it's best to spend on something that will accrue in value. The other thing is that people spend a fortune on custom basses in the hope they'll sound like Stanley Clarke. Sometimes a better use of a small fortune on a bass is to spend a grand on a bass and the rest on lessons and some free time and space to play it.

[quote name='njr911' timestamp='1487770140' post='3242626'] You want a 66 CAR Jazz with matching h/s and lollypop tuners. Well that's what I want anyway [/quote] I have one! It's spectacular and I've played it every day for more than a decade. I recently bought / invested in a great condition 64' Jazz for around the same sum you're looking at. Took a few years to find, but it completes my small collection. As others have said there's a lot of junk out there, fakes and ambitious sellers etc. You need to educate yourself on the market and buy something that works for you, your music and your aspirations. My next purchase? A 62' RI jazz bass I can use with my jazz trio, and that I'm not afraid to leave the house with...

I have a J Tone slap bass pickup for sale if you're interested?